EuroLeague unlikely to expand to Dubai in the 2023-24 season / News - Basketnews.com

A team from Dubai joining the EuroLeague is not going to happen in the upcoming season, renowned basketball agent Misko Raznatovic revealed. Instead, there might be a separate six-team league with a possibility of the project being realised in 2024.

Credit: Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

At the start of the 2022-23 EuroLeague season, news broke out that the league is planning to have a team in Dubai. With speculations from both the teams and their fans, it now seems that it won't happen in the immediate future.

In an interview with Georgios Zakkas from SDNA, renowned basketball agent Misko Raznatovic shared the current stage of the negotiations between the members of the competition.

"My hope was that this would happen in 2023. It will not happen though, because some people in Europe do not understand how important it is and protect their own interests. In my view, 2024 is realistic to happen. It will lead to an expansion of basketball and open up the Middle East," Raznatovic said. "As I understand, they should create another league with six teams, probably involving some cities like Doha, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi. It will be great for basketball."

"It will be good for me too because, as an agent, I will have new openings in some teams for coaches and players. It will be good for everyone," he shared. "You know, we have to improve basketball in Europe because it's not profitable. Teams mostly lose money. Maybe this is an opportunity to improve the situation in basketball if they create something good in the Middle East."

According to BasketNews sources, Djordje Djokovic, a brother of Novak Djokovic, is one of the people behind this commercial project connecting the EuroLeague with Dubai.

If Dubai's club comes up with one of the top budgets in the EuroLeague (let's say, around €40M), mid-level clubs are worried that another big spender will impact the market by increasing the players' salaries.

EuroLeague held a shareholder meeting on Wednesday but no news has come out regarding the possible expansion.

The details of the Dubai project can be found here.

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